PHIL 307: 13TH AND 14TH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
PHIL 307: 13th and 14th Century Philosophy
Blake Dutton
This course is designed to introduce students to the central problems, figures, and texts of medieval scholasticism--a philosophical and theological movement that arose in conjunction with the medieval universities and which flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries. Though we will work to gain a broad understanding of scholasticism as a movement, our approach will be problem centered. This is to say that we will focus our efforts on identifying the main philosophical problems that animated the scholastics and on understanding how the scholastics set about resolving those problems. Such problems will fall into four broad categories: (1) problems concerning faith and reason; (2) problems concerning the existence and nature of God; (3) problems concerning human nature; and (4) problems concerning universals. Among the figures we will study, the most prominent are Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Some attention will also be given to lesser-known figures.